Laura Benanti is not a fan of former Broadway costar Zachary Levi — and she doesn’t care who knows it.
“I never liked him,” Benanti, 45, said of Levi, 44, during an appearance on the Wednesday, December 4, episode of the “That’s a Gay Ass Podcast.”
“Everyone was like, ‘He’s so great!’ And I was like, ‘No, he’s not,’” she recalled. “He’s sucking up all the f—ing energy in this room.”
Benanti further claimed that Levi wanted to “mansplain everybody’s part to them” while they were members of the same cast.
The actress alleged Levi tried to get their She Loves Me castmates to have dance parties before each show, which she never enjoyed. (Benanti played Amalia Balash in the 2016 production while Levi portrayed Georg Nowach.)
“He really sucked everybody in with his, like, dance party energy. Like, ‘We’re doing a dance party at half-hour,’” Benanti remembered. “I was like, ‘Good luck. Have fun.’”
Benanti’s comments came after Levi made headlines in September when he claimed that their late She Loves Me costar Gavin Creel’s death earlier this year was caused by the COVID-19 vaccine.
“To use his memory for his political agenda and to watch him try to make himself cry until he had one single tear, which he did not wipe away, I was like, ‘F— you forever,’” Benanti said on Wednesday, referring to Levi’s comments about Creel.
Us Weekly confirmed in September that Creel died at the age of 48. The Tony Award winner’s cause of his death was metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma. Creel was diagnosed with the very rare form of cancer in July, a mere two months prior to his passing.
According to Mayo Clinic, Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors are a form of cancer that starts in the spinal cord and spreads throughout the body via nerves.
Following his death, Levi conducted an Instagram Live where he made controversial statements about Creel.
“I know that this is going to offend some people and make some people mad, and I wish it didn’t,” Levi said at the time via Just Jared, calling Creel one of the “healthiest” people he knew. Levi then claimed that the COVID vaccination led to Creel’s death.
“I, without a shadow of a doubt, I believe that Gavin Creel would be alive right now — right f—ing now — he would still be alive if that stuff didn’t get put into his body,” he concluded.
Like Benanti, many people responded with outrage over Levi’s statement, including Broadway star Norbert Leo Butz.
“So incredibly disappointed you would politicize Gavin’s death. Really tried to give you the benefit here. Made it halfway through, which was hard as hell,” Butz, 57, replied in the comments section. “But [I] was utterly heartbroken, as he would have been, that you felt the need to use his life and legacy to promote this awful platform💔.”
Benanti, meanwhile, honored Creel’s legacy in a touching social media post in September. “Anyone who has ever met Gavin remembers a moment (or many) when he made them feel seen and special,” she wrote. “A moment (or many) when they basked in his reflected glow. A moment (or many) when that glow made its way into their hearts and remained there forever. Gavin was the brightest light in any room. Long may he shine.”
‘Joe Biden finally becomes the great unifier – by pardoning his son, Hunter’
